Sometimes the algorithms get it just right. When I first listened to “Javelin,” it was followed by MJ Lenderman’s version of Jason Molina’s “Just Be Simple,” neatly connecting three of the most preeminent and acute observers of 21st-century Middle America — true masters of the Midwestern blues. Small towns, endless prairie highways and the bleak solitude beneath vast skies.

Morby grew up in Kansas City and joined New York psych-folk adventurers Woods in the early 2010s before building a highly impressive solo career, including modern-day classics like Singing Saw (2016) and his moving reckoning with his father’s death, This Is a Photograph (2022). “Javelin,” featuring Amelia Meath from Sylvan Esso, is the lead single from his forthcoming album, Little Wide Open (May 15), produced by Aaron Dessner (The National, Taylor Swift) and featuring contributions from Justin Vernon, Lucinda Williams and many more.

The tension between world tours and homebound isolation is familiar territory for many musicians, but lyrically Morby stands a head above most of his peers. Musically, he remains irresistible — strikingly confident, honest and vulnerable at the same time.

You know I have been
Traveling
Through the air and down the highway
Like a javelin

Towards this old cow town in the Bible Belt
Remember when they asked us, baby, just how it felt
To be alone in the middle of
Middle America?

There is nothing algorithmic about Kevin Morby, who’s further cementing his position as one of the most original and human storytellers of our time.